Shaun + Tallon – A Mexican Fiesta at Kelvingrove!
Tallon & Shaun
Kelvingrove Bandstand & Gleddoch Hotel & Spa
Shaun and Tallon met 13 years ago, the old fashioned way; online! But it wasn’t until a trip to Barcelona in 2017, that a proposal was planned… in fact two! Tallon planned to propose to Shaun. Shaun planned to propose to Tallon… on the same trip. We are told that Tallon got there first!
Tallon and Shaun agreed that they wanted their ceremony to be about them; bright and colourful… the day was to be and was a celebration! They agreed, “We weren’t making our commitment to each other in front of religious places, people etc. It was us, our friends and family.”
Editor – “This is our first Real Wedding to be featured on Glasgow Wedding Magazine, so we thought that we would let the happy couple go to town and tell us all the colourful, quirky and majestic plans and celebrations for their Big Day!… We are glad we did – and wish we were there!”
“It was so hard to find anything wedding related to fit in with our chosen theme… Mexican Fiesta! Any wedding fairs we attended were centred around a very specific colour scheme and person; white and the bride. Some venues and suppliers had ways to add a subtle splash of colour, but that really wasn’t us! So we quickly realised, if we wanted a colourful, Mexican Fiesta wedding, we’d have to do all the work ourselves!
Our chosen theme came with a unique colour scheme… orange, yellow, blue, green, lilac and pink! From outfits to cake, to decor, we wanted to make a clear statement; this was no ordinary wedding!
We got ‘Day of the Dead’ wreaths for our tables for the base of our candelabras, which held candles in our chosen colour scheme, as well as hand painting table name frames with our table names (shindig, fiesta, hootenanny, piss up, gala, kiki, an empty, soiree, extravaganza and mardi gras… different terms for parties, which we’re sort of famous for!), paint and glitter cacti, light up skull bottles decorated as Mexican sugar skulls… not to mention our colourful sugar skull table runners made by Tallon’s mum Louise. We even designed our own wedding favours; glitter sugar skull enamel pins in 4 colours, so that people could have something to keep that didn’t have our names and wedding date on! We also made our famous “blue shot” drink, that we make for our annual Eurovision party. People love it, so it just made sense! Even our ‘guest book’ was out of the ordinary… one of our groomsmen, George, made us a big sugar skull decorated with sunflowers (Shaun’s mum’s favourite flower, who sadly passed in 2005) that people could open and sign in chalk pens!
We got more decorations that fit our colour scheme whenever we saw them! Trying to fit within a respectful theme scheme without being culturally inappropriate!
We decided to have a humanist ceremony, which concentrated on us, our journey, our promises and our future. The entire ceremony was catered to us! Our celebrant Carol Knight (Aka Carol Smillie) was on hand whenever we needed her and never shied away from reminding us who this wedding was truly for; us. We met her a few times, were in touch via email and text whenever any of us needed and she even convinced us to have a grand entrance after telling her the other things happening at our wedding! When we met at our ceremony venue, Carol took charge with stage management too! Timing us getting down all those stairs, so we could tell our singer when to introduce us! She was a surrogate mother figure rolled up with a celebrant. We wouldn’t have changed a single thing! Our ceremony included a wedding band warming, hand fasting (with ties made by Tallon’s mum Louise with our families’ names embroidered to them), secret vows to one another and our proposal story.
Our singer Tom Harlow was hugely collaborative with the song choices and was open to suggestions too! We’ve known Tom for years, and loved his performance and MC styles, keeping it professional but fun (though not child friendly, but that was our choice!). He helped ensure that our love of Disney and musicals shone through! He even changed the lyrics to “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid to “Kiss the Boy”!
The grand entrance was “Hail Holy Queen” in the style of Sister Act as we came down the aisle, with our grooms maids and groomsmen (named our Unconventional Conventionalists because of our love for Rocky Horror) clapping along with tambourines on stage with him!
He kept our guests included in singalongs and encouraged dancing at the end too! Tom weaved in and out of or guests, sitting on laps and stealing drinks in his iconic fashion!
We kept decorations at the bandstand very simple; using such an iconic place to get married, we certainly didn’t want to hide it! Just a little bunting, and the venue organised bright coloured lighting for the stage to go with our theme too! Our point of contact Graeme was so receptive to our wants and needs.
Shaun’s Aunt Jiggy and Uncle Sanjay (from Indian cook school / Ashoka) very generously offered to arrange some canapes at the bandstand. We were passionate about including Shaun’s Indian heritage in some way, and what better way than the food? It went down a storm! Literally, as the heavens briefly opened after the ceremony, forcing family and friends from both sides to huddle together under canopies and umbrellas, which was actually a beautiful thing to happen!
After some photos, cabaret, nibbles and drinks, we had one final song and dance (“Under the Sea” from the Little Mermaid) during which Tom encouraged our guests to dance in front of the stage, as we danced on it. It was wonderful!
We all piled on the coach (us included, as we didn’t want to miss a single moment with our loved ones!) and made our way to Gleddoch Hotel and Spa.
Our coordinator Hannah was an absolute star! We were allowed to change up our menu, have some ‘special guests’, and she knocked it out of the park decorating the venue with the decorations we’d purchased from Mexico.
Prosecco was served or arrival, and we and our guests were taken into the beautiful garden to meet our alpacas Valentino, Blondie and Teddy from Caledonia Alpacas! People were shocked and thrilled to see these wonderful animals! After some photos, we disappeared for our first costume change, for a grand entrance into our wedding breakfast. Our MC Miguel kept the theme going by announcing our arrival in both English and Spanish!
WEDDING SUPPLIERS
Venue – Day – Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre (thanks to Graham)
Reception – Evening – Gleddoch Hotel and Spa (with wonderful wedding coordinator Hannah)
Accommodation – Gleddoch Hotel and Spa
Invites – Luisa of IINVITEYOU via Etsy
Grooms wear – Tallon – Ceremony – Blue tartan 3 piece suit by Twisted Tailor, pink glitter shoes by Irregular Choice, pink glitter bow tie and pocket square by Mrs Bow Tie, cufflinks by Twisted Tailor.
Breakfast – Pink velvet 3 piece suit by Twisted Tailor, teal glitter shoes by Irregular Choice, teal leopard bow tie and pocket square by Pick A Pocket.
Evening – Gold sequin jacket from Dobell, black velvet snake skin shirt by Twisted Tailor, Black glitter high tops by Kurt Geiger.
Shaun – Ceremony – powder blue 3 piece suit by Twisted Tailor, red shoes by Irregular Choice, cufflinks by Twisted Tailor.
Breakfast – Red velvet blazer by Harry Brown, shoes as previous.
Evening – Black sequin blazer by Dobell, black and gold leopard print shirt by Twisted Tailor, glitter high top trainers by Kurt Geiger.
Witness outfits – Groomsmaids dresses by Heart and Roses, bought from Pretty Kitty Fashion. Shoes groomsmaids own.
Groomsmen blazers by Twisted Tailor, Ties by Gianni Feraud, cufflinks by Twisted Tailor
Rings – Silver Cave Designs on Etsy
Hair and Make-up – Hair by 110 by Ayr, Makeup by Ailsa Doc MUA
Photographer – Gavin MacQueen Photography
‘Mother of’ Outfits – Roman Womenswear
Wedding cake – Lee McKee
Flowers – Buttonaires and corsages by Lisa at Floral Menagerie.
Table Plans / Venue décor – Grooms own decor.
Favours – Enamel pins designed by grooms, blue shot made by grooms.
Other Entertainment – Alpacas by Caledonia Alpacas.
Coaches – Marbill Coaches.
Ceremony official – Carol Smillie (Carol Knight, humanist celebrant)
DJ – Aaron Bisset
Wedding Singer – Tom Harlow
Honeymoon – Tokyo, March 2020
Other catering – Evening buffet hog roast by The Spitting Pig
All Images courtesy of Gavin MacQueen Photography
Click on gallery images below to see larger pics –
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